How Luce in Portland, OR Makes Simple Italian Transcendent

“This is Italian home cooking to its core.” That’s what Andrew Knowlton said in our September issue about Luce in Portland, Oregon. And that’s what garnered it the No. 4 spot on his Hot 10 list of best new restaurants in America. “At first glance, the spaghettini with garlic and hot peppers might look like what you made for your teenager as you were running out the door,” Knowlton writes. “But after the first bite–silky, with an alluring kick of heat–you’ll find out you were so wrong.”

Want to make your friends feel that way? Here’s how Luce’s modest approach achieves lofty results–and how you can duplicate it at home.

Cook with the Seasons: At Luce, they use the best ingredients they can find. That means staying flexible based on what’s available at the market and relying on trusted purveyors for produce, meat, and fish.

Perfect Your Technique: Simple doesn’t mean effortless; you have to take care with the cooking. There is no tricky plating, sauce schmears, or other “extras” in these recipes, so there’s nothing to disguise a gray steak or overcooked rice.

Season Each Component Well: With so few ingredients, flavor must be coaxed out of each one. For example, the pastas at Luce are cooked in very salty water, so diners taste the pasta itself, not just the sauce that goes on it.

And here are recipes from Luce chef John Taboada and his wife, Giovanna Parolari: